160 AA batteries powers aircraft - and it flies!

[tycho102]

Originally Posted by LoBlo

You think airplances will ever get away from having to use jetfuel? Cars will eventually go electric or hydrogen, but a jet engine that runs on anything else but fossil fuels is hard to imagine.

This is true. However, it's possible to use methane pulsejets, using nuclear power plants and syn-gas reactors.

Right now, kerosene in all it's JP-5, JP-8, JP-9 versions is a tiny fraction (under 7% last time I looked at charts) product of our global refineries. Global refineries. American refineries run about 12% of their total crude intake to kerosene.

What this means is, if the entire "western" world moved to nuclear power as their primary electrical supply source, we would have more than enough "natrural gas" to supply our aviation needs for...hell....I don't know. Given growth in India and China, I would easily guess beyond 2050.